Plastic trim strip



Oct. 1, 1963 D. H. ESLER ETAL 3,105,323

PLASTIC TRIM STRIP Filed Sept. 25, 1961 4 30 f0 34 44 INVENTOR$ fl/lV/D 6 EFZEF 6' 3 BY 1052/1 74. 77mm United States Patent 3,105,323 PLASTIC TRIM S David H. Esler, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Robert L. Trimmer, Nashua, N.H., assignors to Saclmer Products, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed Sept. 25, 1961, er. No. 141,567 3 Gaines. (Cl. 45138) This invention relates to furniture upholstery and more particularly to a cover strip or trim strip for hiding unsightly junctures between sheet materials of furniture upholstering.

In applying decorative sheet material, e.g. plastic or cloth, covering to articles of furniture, e.g. chairs, the juncture of two sheet portions is usually unsightly due to the difliculty of perfectly aligning the sheet portions, and to the presence of tacks, staples or stitching necessary to hold the sheet materials in place. In attempts to cover the elongated sheet junctures, difficulties occur since any additional material applied thereon must in turn be secured to the articles of furniture by tacks, staples, or stitching. Trim strips or gimps presently used in efforts to accomplish this are composed of a plurality of overlapping cloth parts which are first assembled together by at least two rows of external, visible stitches. To hide the junctures of the sheet materials and the tacks, the gimp is attached to the furniture by additional stitching, tacks or staples. The latter attachment means is intended to be covered up by cloth flaps on the gimp. However, such flaps tend to be rather undependable in this function to cover all of the tacks or stitches since they must originally be deformed to attach the gimp, and often do not return to the covering position.

Another common fault with presently used girnps is the tendency of the outer edges to curl away from the article of furniture and thus become unsightly. All of these factors obviously detract greatly from their aesthetic value which is really their chief function. Not only do prior gimps have these bothersome shortcomings, but the additional stitching required to assemble the very strip itself consumes costly time and labor and necessitates expensive manufacturing equipment.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a furniture trim strip having no external visible stitching. It is another object to provide an integral, unitary trim strip. The strip requires no labor, equipment or time to assemble it before attachment to the furniture since it is formed into a unitary article as by extrusion. The integral strip includes resilient flange portions which always return dependably to the original covering position to cover the tacks and stitches used to hold the strip unto the article of furniture. This is true even if the flanges are subjected to repeated deformation. The beads forming an integral part of the flanges completely abut against each other over the entire length of the strip in an aesthetically appealing manner as contrasted to the loose cloth flap of the prior art. Further, the integral resilient flanges may be made exceptionally long to facilitate excellent stitching anchorage of the strip to the article, and yet always return to the original covering position dependably inspite of the extra-ordinarily large deformation of the long flanges.

It is another object of this invention to provide a trim strip having a tight hugging characteristic, such that the edges of the attached strip fits very snugly the furniture over the entire length thereof. This hugging tendency, in combination with the superior anchorage obtainable with the long flanges, eliminate any tendency of the outer edges to curl and become unsightly.

These and other objects of the invention will be apmeans Patented Oct. 1, 1963 parent from a study of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the novel plastic trim strip as applied to an article of furniture;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the plastic strip as extruded and before attachment to an article of furniture; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the trim strip being stitched, as for example, to an article of furniture (the latter not shovm).

Basically, the invention comprises an integral plastic trim strip including a resilient base slightly convex in cross section, a pair of integral resilient flange portions protruding out of the base adjacent the opposite sides thereof, extending toward each other, and terminating adjacent the center of the base, and a plastic head on the terminal end on each of the flange portions with the beads held in complete abutting relationship with each other by the resilient flanges and returned to such abutting relationship after deformation of the flanges during attachment of the strip.

Referring to FIG. 1, the trim strip 10 is shown attached to an article of furniture 12 which may be a chair or the like. Covering the chair in a decorative manner are sheets 14 and 16 of material such as plastic or cloth. When these sheet materials are stretched over the chair they meet at elongated juncture 17. The edges 20 and 22 of the material are secured in place by rows 24 and 26 of tacks, or by equivalent stitching or staples. The plastic trim strip forming this invention is attached to the furniture over the juncture 17 and the rows of tacks.

The unattached strip, shown in FIG. 2, includes base 30, a pair of flange elements 32 and 34 protruding out of the base adjacent the edges thereof, extending toward each other, and terminating adjacent the central portion of the base, and beads 36 and 38 integral with the terminal ends of the respective flanges 32 and 34.

The base 30 of the trim strip is slightly convex in cross section, i.e. has a concave undersurface 4%) to be applied to the furniture covering material. The flanges thus protrude out of the base in \a tangential fashion. It also preferably includes tapered edges 42 and 44.

When the trim strip is applied to the article of furniture 12, flanges 32 and 34 are deformed away from the base 30 while suitable stitches 50 are applied to attach the trim strip (FIG. 3). conceivably, staples or tacks could be used in place of stitches 5h. The integral construction of the flanges 32 and 3-4 onto the base 39 enables these flanges to be extraordinarily long, thus allowing the stitiching needle 52 shown partially penetrated through base 30, to oscillate laterally and cover a wide area on the strip base. The resulting stitching under the long flanges provides a firm anchorage. With attachment, the convex base 30 is forced to assume the flat configuration shown in FIG. 3, so that outer edges 42 and 44 of the strip are pressed tightly against the article of furniture to forestall any tendency to curl. This tight of the edges is further increased by the wide stitching pattern obtainable.

The resilient flanges, after being deformed during atattachment as shown in FIG. 3, return to their original position to hold the beads in firm abutting relationship. This abutting relationship is increased still more as the convex base is forced to its final flat configuration.

The plastic material for the extruded trim strip may be of a variety of materials as will be obvious to those in the art. E.g. vinyl plastics such as polyvinyl chloride, polyvinyl acetate, or mixtures thereof may be used.

Other advantages of the subject invention will be apparent to those in the art upon studying this disclosure. Also, various obvious modifications will occur to those in the art Without departing from the principle of the invention explained with respect to the illustrated form thereof. Thus, the invention is not to be limited to the illustrative material, but only by the scope of the appended claims and the reasonably equivalent structures thereto.

We claim:

1. An integral plastic trim strip comprising: a slightly convex base portion; a pair of integral resilient flanges protruding generally tangentially out of and toward each other from said slightly convex base adjacent the edges thereof, and terminating adjacent the central portion thereof; an integral bead on the terminal end of each of said flange portions; said beads being held in tightly abutting relationship with each other by the resilient flanges when said base is attached to an article of furniture; and said flanges being characterized by suflicient resilience to cause said beads to remain in said abutting relationship and to return said beads to such relationship after deformation of said flanges.

2. The strip in claim 1 wherein the edges of said base are tapered.

3. An integral plastic trim strip comprising: a slightly convex base portion; a pair of integral resilient flanges protruding toward each other from said slightly convex base adjacent the edges thereof, md terminating adjacent the central portion thereof; an integral bead on the terminal end of each of said flange portions; said beads being held in tightly abutting relationship with each other by the resilient flanges when said base is attached to an article of furniture; and said flanges being characterized by surfficient resilience to cause said beads to remain in said abutting relationship and to return said beads to such relationship after deformation of said flanges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,226,600 Schemmcl May 15, 1917 2,258,314 Bonne-ll Oct. 7, 1941 2,263,063 Allen NOV. 18, 1941 2,308,134 Westro-pe Jan. 12, 1943 2,750,710 Bradley June 19, 1956 

1. AN INTEGRAL PLASTIC TRIM STRIP COMPRISING: A SLIGHTLY CONVEX BASE PORTION; A PAIR OF INTEGRAL RESILIENT FLANGES PROTRUDING GENERALLY TANGENTIALLY OUT OF AND TOWARD EACH OTHER FROM SAID SLIGHTLY CONVEX BASE ADJACENT THE EDGES THEREOF, AND TERMINATING ADJACENT THE CENTRAL PORTION THEREOF; AN INTEGRAL BEAD ON THE TERMINAL END OF EACH OF SAID FLANGE PORTION; SAID BEADS BEING HELD IN TIGHTLY ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP WITH EACH OTHER BY THE RESILIENT FLANGES WHEN SAID BASE IS ATTACHED TO AN ARTICLE OF FURNITURE; AND SAID FLANGES BEING CHARACTERIZED BY SUFFICIENT RESILIENT TO CAUSE SAID BEADS TO REMAIN IN SAID ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP AND TO RETURN SAID BEADS TO SUCH RELATIONSHIP AFTER DEFORMATION OF SAID FLANGES. 